Collets ground or unhardened?

[Chris TickTockParticipant @christicktock]

Hi I read somewhere someone had a collection of collets hardened and some unground. As a green horn when I buy something I generally assume it is ready for use. Are collets generally sold hardened ready for use and what is the virtue of buying unground collets?

Regards

Chris

[Chris TickTockParticipant @christicktock]

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Most collets are hard and ready to go. I don't recognise "unground collets" as a thing, but you may mean "Emergency Collets". These are sold soft so you can drill out the centre to hold a non-standard size. Explanation here at ArcEuro.

Dave

[Anonymous]

Collets are normally supplied hardened. However, some collets can be bought unhardened. These are often known as emergency collets. These collets are machined to fit the holder but the bore is left solid. This is so the user can machine the collet in situ to hold a special size or shape of work. The emergency collets may, or may not, be slit. The 5C emergency collets sold by Arc are slit and supplied with pins to hold the fingers apart during machining. On the other hand I have several emergency collets for my Pultra lathe where the nose is unmachined and the collet is unslit.

Chris: As an aside your post about WW collets implies you're in Cambridge? If so I'm close to Cambridge, out to the west, so youre welcome to visit and rabbit about machining. PM me if interested.

Andrew

[Chris TickTockParticipant @christicktock]

Thanks Guys I have been ferreting around there are apparently unhardened collets such as some 4 jaw brass and aluminium. Hardened and ground is how most machinists would buy quality collets. Hardened collets grip with a dependable force and being ground they sit in a concentric fashion.

Chris

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